World Wide Warriors: Angola

It would take approximately 23 hours to fly direct from Munich, Germany, to Auckland, New Zealand, and approximately 18 hours to fly direct from Surrey, Canada, to Luanda, Angola.

Such flights don’t exist, but the Hawai’i basketball team has brought players from those cities – and others around the world – together on an island in the Pacific Ocean for the 2012-13 season. This year’s roster includes players from seven different countries, other than the United States. What’s more, the American players on the roster come from six different states.

In an effort to get to know the Warriors, we asked them to share a little bit about their home countries.

First up is senior center Vander Joaquim, who was raised in Luanda, Angola.

Among the interesting tidbits of information from Joaquim: Angola has a lot of minerals and petroleum, which allows it to trade for goods and services from other countries. He also said that soccer is the most popular sport in Angola, and he played it “a little bit – when I used to play with my friends they used to put me as the goalie.”

Joaquim has been a member of Angola’s national team for the past two years, and he said the most popular basketball player in that country’s history is Jean-Jacques da Conceicao, a 6-foot-6 forward who led Angola to seven Africa Championships in the 1980s and 1990s.

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11 Comments

Let’s hope Vander replaces Jean-Jacques da Conceicao as Angola’s most popular basketball player in its history as Vander leads the University of Hawaii to a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.. (or at least a deep run in the Riley Wallace Tournament..)

Vander, You’ve Come to Help us with One of Our Favorite Things, UH Basketball;
THREE Times, (that puts you at least one up on JC);
More so, i sense you and your family Value the College Degree and what it represents, a brighter future for you & yours through your efforts and hard work…
THAT We All Have in Common … and Can Contribute Much to Others …
Have a Great & Best-Yet Senior Season …
And You Know, with the Assistance of Dedicated People like Dayton,
we’ll be following your future successes as well, Olympics, Pros, Life…

Dayton takes his Love of All Great Things UHMBB and Supports, Locks in and Shares the Best Efforts and Wishes with those of Like Minds…

Wheresoever We Meet and Agree, It Shall Be …

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FEW Things would Gladden Riley’s Heart
Beyond a Deep Run in His Tourney,
More Than a Deep Run in The NCAAs…

[IN His Lifetime…You KNOW He would be there…]

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Similar to (Or Better Than) How We Stepped Up in Football, to Challenge at The Highest Levels Beside the BYUs, Utahs, Boises, TCUs ….

WE CAN (Eventually or Soon) Take Our Place in Basketball Beside the BYUs, Gonzagas, Butlers, Baylors and (Other) Daytons …

Great interview and insight that we get about Vander/Angola – thank you so much Dayton.
Seeing the guys up close and hearing them speak is fantastic for all of us who are far away.
Dare I say – he speaks well too, his mother should be proud!

Vander: Welcome back to UH MBB team. You are a person of your word! You said you would return to get degree for yourself and family(mom), really the most important thing!. You mentioned back in April at awards banquet!. The UH MBB fanbase faithful always believed you would be back. Mahalo! Now, you have a lot of great teammates and a solid coaching staff, hope you guys will win a lot of games and challenge for BWC tourney crown.

After you get your degree in hand, and end of this season,wish you much success, not only in Pro BB career, but also in your own personal life! You are a real success story, one of the all time best Big Men to ever have played for UH MBB , Thank you so very much again!!

The path is set for Vander Joaquim. This year talent surrounds him and he won’t be seeing so much double and triple teaming as years past. Perchance some games he might see it if no one is lighting it up from the outside, which can happen. Then again, I think Vander is strong enough and talented enough to fight through a double team and still get his points. Vander is another player that has improved each year through sheer determination. Players that accomplish it are those guys that say to themselves, ” Whatever it takes I will be better next year.” Then they go out and work their butts off to death, to the point where they can almost see God. Who said, “Fatigue makes cowards of us all?” And rightfully so, as few do venture in pain alley and they are all playing in the NBA. Good luck Vander.

Vander really has matured, as an athlete and student, since he’s been here. Hope he kicks it — in the classroom and on the court — in his senior year. He won’t have to do it alone with the quality of depth on this year’s team.

TOO QUIET (I Do NOT Expect Dayton to Fill All the Empty Spaces,
BUT IF HE Features ALL 16 Players like ths page, he’ll come pretty close…)

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“Second Site (Part-Time BM) is focusing on TRIVIA Conjecture Game
Of WHO WILL REDSHIRT.
(FUN ? Like Fantasy Football?)
MUCH Traffic….

But More to The Facts, Also Updated the Aaron Valdes Still Missing Mystery (from Official UH Roster) …
As Previously Reported, AV All Properly Enrolled, Attending Classes, Small Group Workouts & Open Gym, (DMVideo to Prove);
But Technically “At-Risk” (Just because it IS NOT Yet Done) is the NCAA Clearinghouse Review & Approval;
AV IS with the Team IAW (In Accordance With) NCAA 45-Day Waiver (arrived~ August 24th);
AND coach expects clearance before the 12 October start of official practices.
NCAA Reports they are slammed with Football Reviews (maybe exacerbated by High Transfer Numbers)
And says they will get to Basketball “Next”…
Coach reports that (presumably based on UH Reviews)
“…he sees NO Red Flags…they just got his paperwork late…” ( as a late signee).

(Story Copyrighted, so Not Cut & Pasted)
.
.
.
OF COURSE this could send a shudder through some UH Fans because:

1) The Same(?) NCAA Clearinghouse did NOT Approve a few UH (football) Immediate Transfer Eligibility requests for UH this year; while apparently approving several or many for Perceived Bigger, Richer schools like Three(?) for USC which while #1 Nationally, Beat UH 49-10 last game (Not Because of the Transfers);

2) UHMBB Is still NOT Batting even 50% on Recent “Cal Graduate” NCAA Clearinghouse Reviews; AND

3) NCAA has a Long (Perceived by Hawai’i) Track Record of Screwing UH (such as taking away the Men’s Volleyball National Championship for an Eligibility rule changed/clarified later, a ruling that HAS been applied to UH Basketball);
OR Most Times Any NCAA Tournament Selection Committee is assembled…

Not to Worry…
Aaron, Just based on the Players’, Coaches’ and Fans’ Responses, it’s Clear to me that you are More than Welcomed here!

I appreciate your observations and objective insights on UH MBB! You do a lot of research on MBB. Contributor to Wikipedia! Wow, I can’t do that! Men’s BB will truly benefit from your additions to that page.

I was doing the speculation RS game on other site, and BM’s blog. However, it is still so early, Gib will wait another 2 months before deciding, and I like what BM said on his blog, whether any would be RS. Gib and staff reviewing possibilities.

We have gotten to know, since majority if not all of Warriorinsider posters to this forum cannot make it to open gym or even summer league games, Dayton and crew have done a wonderful job, All of the young guys by means of video hilites and some interviews, ..As Dayton stated above, he will get around to all the international players, and I am sure the one’s from the Big, Big Island(Mainland).

If you read these posts Gib and coaching staff and DOBO, trainers, managers, secretaries with UH MBB office etc. ..with your boss and fellow UH Warrior coach, Gib, a great personal shoutout! I have seen the Rocha mid sixties to early seventies teams, O’Neil’s shortened stay as coach, Little, Arnold, Wallace, Nash and now Gib Arnold..I would say in terms of interest and in mid season, turning around a type of athlete as recruiting targets globally ..Gib you have done a great job, And from Videos and updates from you personally via this site and thankis to Dayton, the young men are super guys! High Character, Academics, and lastly, they have GAME..you have done well Coach Gib. You have 15 young men you can develop this year, and a 16th(Keith) waiting in the wings..Mahalo for developing such a great interest in MBB, after just 5 months , (the end of March 2012 when some guys left, transferred or eligbility complete)..

Mahalo Eagle, Gib and especially Dayton for keeping UH MBB on intense watch by the die hard fatithful old and new Warrior BB fans…Thank you so very, very much..You all, got us fans, anxiously awaiting even the start of Oct Practice, then HPU exhibition game, then Nov 9 with Maryland Eastern Shore!
And hats off and kudos to all the posters to this forum , who have contirbuted!!

For Keeping it Lively, Mostly Real, and with an eye toward what’s possible as well…

This IS The Best UHMBB Site…

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Although i appreciate others trying…
Other sites are starting up as well,
some still hibernating through the “old paradigm” of The ‘Off-Season’ …

Warrior Insider Clearly buys into the “coach speak”, coach philosophy & reality that players are made and recruited in that “off-season”; that maybe like the NFL and even NBA, these sports are Now Really Year-Round and something better be goin’ on to improve daily, if you want to be the best… around this program it shows…

No Days Off Here!

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RE: Wikipedia: Their Mission Statement is to be the People’s On-Line Encyclopedia so you ‘CAN’ figure out how to contribute or drop me a line and i can walk (responsible) people through it — i could tell knowledgeable people had already been trying to update UHMBB, but it wasn’t “taking” for simple formatting issues…

MORE TRIVIA? But it IS Counting Wins!

WHILE playing with Those Stats (didn’t check ’em all…but what i saw looked o.k.)
i noticed that a three-game season-opening win streak (Maryland-Eastern Shore, Arkansas-Pine Bluff and Houston Baptist would vault Gib into a Virtual Tie with the other great recruiter, Bruce O’Neil (.567 to .568) as the WINNINGEST Coach since Art Gallon in 1950-51.

Of Course they’d have to then Win Two of Three versus Illinois, N.Dakota and @UNLV to Stay There …

OR WIN 19+ in the Regular Season
AND Win More than they lose in Post-Season…